Phaedo

Socrates can pay a small bribe and escape his confinement, emigrate to another city, and resume his life, but instead he chooses to accept his death sentence. Briefly describe three reasons why he does so.

Why are the objects that make up the world mortal while the essences of those objects are immortal? Explain using Socrates’s concept of things and forms.

Why is Socrates so calm at the prospect of his own death? Explain using examples from his beliefs.

Socrates asks a lot of questions. Describe two ways this technique benefits his students.

What happens to good souls after death? And what happens to the wicked? Include the various alternative fates for each type of soul.

Cebes and Simmias challenge Socrates on his belief that the soul is immortal; their arguments seem unassailable, and the other students are stricken by the idea that their teacher may be unable, on his last day on earth, to resolve the dispute and win the argument. Socrates, however, is unperturbed. Why is he so calm? Give two reasons, and explain how each derives from Socrates’s beliefs about philosophy and the purpose of life.

In Socrates’s teaching method, what is a dialectic? Explain using an example that raises a question and resolves it.

Name three forms, or essences, and explain why each is always more perfect than its real-life appearances.